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MEMOIRS of 



James and Merifeah Farmer 








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' Like the moonlight glorious breaking 
Through the fleeting, sable clouds, 

Steps a vision forth in splendor — 
Out of memory's veiling clouds." 



THE MEMOIRS 
i 

OF 

James and Meribah Farmer 

BY 

THEIR DAUGHTER, 

Lydia Ethei, Farmer Painter. 



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Dedicated 

CO their children, and their children's 
children, to the, now, third generation, 
this small part of a remembrance of our 
father and mother ; in sainted memory- 
forever ! 



Dear hearts, — 

"the legend is not vain 
Which lights that holy hearth again ; 
And calling back from care and pain 
And death's funereal sadness — 
Draws round its old familiar blaze, 
The clustering groups of happier days, 
And lends to sober woman's gaze 

A glimpse of childhood's gladness. 



Cleveland, O., 
March, ipoo. 




JAMES FARMER. 
1878. 










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MERIBAH FARMER. 
1878. 




James and Meribah Farmer 



" His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful over a few 
things, I will make thee ruler over many things ; enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord." 



"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee 
the crown of life." 



77 1 HEN, in the very fullness of 
V$$ truth it may be said of any 
life, it was exemplary in 
living, triumphant in dying, we 
gather into one line the whole — no 
more need be said. But Remem- 
brance and Gratitude are not con- 
tent that a theme so rich, so dear, 
should be no more than touched 
upon ; and so, with the years com- 
ing and going, widening the dis- 
tance between these years and those 
in which our dear father and mother 
lived in conscious presence among 
us, it is with an all-reverent love 
and a sweet, undimmed remem- 
brance that I would write for us 
their children — and for their chil- 
dren's children, and for many 
kind and valued friends, a some- 
thing more than one line of them. 
To set up, as it were, a stone to 
mark the pathway of their coming 
and going, and thereon to make 
record of that to which their lives 
bore fullest testimony. And as it 
was my privilege to see how in the 
daily living of our dear father and 
mother, was fulfilled the command 



of their Lord laid upon them — His 
earnest disciples — so I now make it 
my privilege to bear witness how 
the blessed promises of their Lord 
were in large measure made good 
to them through the comfort of a 
sustaining and triumphant faith, 
and in which they received the 
summons : ' ' Enter thou into the 
joy of thy Lord." 

The earliest of our many happy 
remembrances must be of that hour 
of family worship at which our 
mother (who early in her life was 
an accepted minister in the Society 
of Friends) so reverently read and 
expounded the Scriptures. This 
consecrated hour held uninterrupt- 
edly through the long and busy 
years of our parents' lives, no 
break, notwithstanding the early 
years of their married life were 
filled with the multitude of affairs 
not separable from an almost pioneer 
life. Our grandfather and father 
went into the wilderness when they 
built their homes on the banks of 
the little Yellow Creek in the 
southern part of Ohio — amid an 



almost primeval forest. The moun- 
tainous hills came down to the 
banks of the little stream in a 
wooded splendor of pine, beech 
and oak, and the main highway ran 
through long stretches of country 
sparsely settled. 

" O fortunate, happy day, 

When a new household finds its place 

Among the myriad homes of earth." 

" For two alone — 

Is spread the table round and small; 

Upon the polished silver, shine 

The evening lamps, but, more divine, 

The light of love shines over all; 

Of love that says not mine and thine 

But ours, — for ours is thine and mine." 

They needed no guests; 

"their needs must be 
Each other's own best company." 

It was toward this to be made- 
paradise-spot in the wilderness of 
Ohio, that our grandparents Farmer 
and grandparents Butler were 
bringing our father and mother; 
when with their young children 
they crossed the great lonely moun- 
tains to make their new homes in 
the West. 



Our grandfather Farmer came 
from the far South, Georgia; our 
grandfather Butler from Pennsyl- 
vania, the one in 1805 — (our father 
three years of age) the other in 
181 1 — (our mother six years of 
age) and both families "pitched 
their tents" in well-nigh the same 
neighborhood. New Garden — 
Goshen — are now as then small vil- 
lages, no long remove from the bet- 
ter-known town of Salem, and it 
was in proximity to these, in the 
very heart of the forest, that the 
new homes were made; our mother 
remaining in hers until she grew 
into the full strength, as well as a 
marked fairness, of womanhood: 
and until that early autumn day — 
the 1st of 10th month, (October) 
1 834, on which she rode away horse- 
back — light silk gown and all — be- 
cause the roads were too bad for a 
carriage — and in the little, forest- 
environed Meeting-House was mar- 
ried to "James Farmer," our fath- 
er, and then and there set her life 
to his, 

" Like perfect music unto noble words." 



Directly the wedding celebration 
was finished in the home of the 
bride, our father and mother set off 
for their new home, some twenty- 
five miles away, among the wilder 
and more picturesque beauty of the 
hill-country in Columbiana county. 

Our father had already made 
a goodly beginning during the 
years in which he had, with our 
grandfather, opened up and de- 
veloped the resources of those hills 
and valleys through which the lit- 
tle Yellow Creek took its way, 
toward the Ohio River, and on 
whose banks our father had built 
the comfortable frame house to 
which in the early autumn days he 
journeyed with his bride. 

There it was their seven children 
were born — whom they named, 
Elihu, Beulah, Ellen, Lydia, I^aura, 
Elizabeth, James : — 

" And now I see the table wider grown; — 
As round a pebble into water thrown 
Dilates a ring of light — " 

and at this table, and everywhere 
throughout the household our 



mother gave to our father that in- 
comparably beautiful proof — to his 
often declared belief, that no 

" House hath ever gained prosperity 
without the grace 
Of woman's noble nature."' 



Neither our grandfather nor 
father had gone into this wilderness 
for the sake of mere subsistence. 
Together they began the develop- 
ment of the resources of a country 
that in time yielded a rich reward 
to, especially, our father's splendid 
and untiring energies. In all the 
country 'round, and for many a 
"Sabbath day's journey" into it, 
the name, James Farmer, stood for 
integrity, progress, success, and all 
that goes to guarantee to men the 
thing they seek when they push out 
into new fields. 

Settlers came, and the little ham- 
let grew, and in no long time was 
given the name ' ' Salineville. ' ' Up 
to this time, our grandfather and 
father had made their business ven- 
tures and successes together, but, 




Home of 

James and Meribah Farmer 

at 

Salineville, Ohio. 



about this time, our grandfather 
retired from active business life, 
leaving our father to carry forward 
the ever-increasing business inter- 
ests single-handed. These were 
years that tested the strength, 
physical and mental, of both our 
father and mother, and from them 
they emerged ' ' more than con- 
querors." I am sure it could never 
have occurred to the mind of any 
child of theirs that their father or 
mother could make failure in any 
undertaking, and that they did not 
was owing to no so-called ' ' luck ' ' 
or " chance." Our father was 
quick to disclaim these expressions, 
as well as the idea that good fortune, 
successful outcomes, were to be 
regarded as things of "luck," 
' ' chance, ' ' rather than the result 
of honest effort, its spring from 
honest principle, and the outcome a 
gift of a beneficent Providence. 

Though our father and mother, 
in these early years, must have felt 
the hand of a compelling necessity 
urging them to energetic action, 
they rushed not blindly on, bound 



to the wheel-of -doing day and day, 
and every hour of every day. They 
were not bond slaves of this sort, 
nor did they sell their birth-right in 
the intellectual and spiritual to 
Necessity, however large and legiti- 
mate its demands. Of duty there 
was "enough and to spare;" of 
leisure there would have been none 
in a household less executively 
managed ; but in their home Duty 
and leisure were as felicitously 
wedded as were our parents, and if 
the demands of the one were exact- 
ing they were never allowed to be 
overwhelming. Thus true values 
held, and time for the better thing 
was rescued from the great on-rush 
of daily affairs. The absence of 
any trait of character or any action 
on the part of our father and mother 
that even approached the erratic, 
was most apparent ; and their good, 
strong sense and poise of character, 
made them representative of that 
class, of whom our grandfather 
Farmer was wont to say, there were 
few. To quote him : ' ' There are 
many people with various sorts of 



sense, and some of it very extraordi- 
nary, but very few people with plain 
common sense." 

Of these few, our father and 
mother were! And what a healthy, 
hearty superior kind of common 
sense theirs was ! And how it kept 
all things in a restful balance ! No 
precipitation, no procrastination ; a 
time and place for all things ; no 
license, no bondage; a proportion in 
trustfulness that saved it from im- 
providence ; a deliberation in deci- 
sion that saved it from bluntness; 
and so all things, in spite of any in- 
herent differences, were made har- 
monious. And thus side by side 
our father and mother grew in 
strength and beauty like unto oaks 
of the forest — in the forest. 

In those early days, hospitality 
was governed by no code of formal 
etiquette, but the latch-string being 
always out a cordial welcome 
greeted every guest, whether he 
was the expected friend or the be- 
lated traveller who asked a night's 
shelter for himself and horse. With 
the advance of civilization, this 



simple and truly picturesque form 
of hospitality went, but never passed 
from the natures of our father and 
mother. Many's the charming 
hour we have had listening to our 
father recount his own experiences 
when, as a stranger belated, on 
some of his long rides over the 
mountains, he received the kindly 
hospitality of some settler's fireside. 
With a nature courteous and 
kind, with a wealth of geniality, 
and with a keen appreciation of the 
humorous side of things, our father 
made a rare good companion at 
home or abroad. His sense of jus- 
tice made his rulings true and ac- 
ceptable, and his great tact and 
versatility of mind and resources 
made him successful where others 
failed. Nothing was more apparent 
than the close analogy that existed 
in our father's and mother's charac- 
ters, but in manner there was a 
difference as interesting as it was 
marked. Both were good readers of 
human nature, and both possessed 
intuitive powers of the best ; and 
when a stranger accosted our father 



he responded with a cordiality that 
said : ' ' You are my friend ! ' ' nor 
was the compliment withdrawn un- 
til there was proof of un worthiness. 
With our mother, a stranger re- 
ceived her courteous greeting with 
that half reserve which says: "You 
may be my friend! are you worthy?' ' 
Differing in experiences, as must 
the lives of man and woman, the 
joy of theirs was, that the bonds of 
interest and affection were close, 
making their experiences in all the 
world of inner living well-nigh iden- 
tical, and giving to their domestic 
relations those felicities that prove 

— "great hearts expand 
And grow one in the sense of this world's 
life." 

If there were differences in degree 
of feeling, thinking, these but served 
to insure variety within the harmony 
of their lives, no interference with 
the oneness, for in no lives could it 
be more truly said that in the unity 
of the spirit did they dwell together 
in the bonds of peace ! No monoto- 
nous acquiescence or spirit- dulling 
concessions, but healthful, hearty 



agreement! In this were their chil- 
dren taught with a cheerful salu- 
tariness, that there was no appeal 
from the decisions of the one parent 
to the other. 

In personal appearance, our father 
and mother had few superiors. 
Tall, well-proportioned, and with 
a natural dignity that lent great 
grace, and was a charming factor in 
the much and all that went to make 
them what they undeniably were — 
handsome. This or that attractive 
feature (whether physical or men- 
tal) in our mother, served our father 
with a pretext for his ever ready 
and sincere compliments. The 
charm of this altogether sincere 
and spontaneous gallantry on our 
father's part was delightfully en- 
hanced by an ever pleased surprise, 
a certain naivete on the part of 
our mother; a surprise that seemed 
never to grow less, certainly never 
valued less. 

Iyike a pretty excuse it was for his 
pretty compliment, when our father 
one day said to me, in mother's pres- 
ence : 



"It was just such a bright, crisp 
day as this, filled with the sound of 
sleigh bells (ours), that she gave 
me, with her eyes, the life-long com- 
pliment, herself !" 

Thus it was that their own attrac- 
tiveness made their home delight- 
fully attractive, not only to their 
immediate household, but to the 
large number of friends and travel- 
lers to whom they extended a sin- 
cere and generous hospitality ; and 
made them valued, and representa- 
tive of the world's best, in Church 
and State. 

Our father's business interests 
took him much from home, but un- 
less his journeys carried him over 
the mountains (a three weeks' ride 
on horse back, and which he made 
twice every year) to Philadelphia, 
or down the Mississippi to far away 
New Orleans, the end of each week 
found the entire household watch- 
ing with happy expectancy for 
' ' father' s coming ! ' ' 

But his many affairs did not de- 
prive his children of a goodly share 
of his companionship. In the sum- 



mer time, at the season when ber- 
ries were ripe on the hill sides and 
through the woods, our father never 
failed to keep some of his days for 
us. In the winter the sleighing 
was as eagerly looked to, and all 
the year 'round there was fun and 
play between father and children, 
and it was not always the smallest 
of the little folks that got a ride on 
father's knee, or on his beautiful 
horse — "Charger" — the pride of us 
all ! Then there were pleasurings 
which our father could but seldom 
join in, but which were always 
made good to us — such as harvest- 
ing the hay from our play ground 
1 ' The Meadow. ' ' Nothing was al- 
lowed to trample on the myriad 
flowers that blossomed there, from 
the snow-kissed paticas to the vio- 
lets that lost themselves among the 
growing grass ; the which when 
grown to the harvest time furnished 
us with the greatest sport of the 
whole year. There it was our 
grandfather Farmer made himself 
one of us, giving whole days of his 
time to make sure that no harm 



came to us while riding over the 
meadow on the haycocks that were 
drawn by a horse to where the hay- 
stacks were being made. A little 
too far forward and we could have 
tumbled on to the horse's heels, a 
little too far back — and what shouts 
at the fun of a roll off behind ! Then 
there was the fishing in the stream, 
under the great sycamores — and 
the apple-gathering from the trees 
of the orchard, among whose 
branches we had made cradles for 
our dolls and helped the breezes 
rock them through the warm sum- 
mer days. ' ' Our swing ' ' under 
the black walnut tree — and our 
garden with its rivalry of flower 
beds ! All this territory was ours 
— without encroachment or mo- 
lestation, and then it seemed as easy 
as it was a natural thing c 'for father' ' 
to have time to make holiday with 
us; now the remembrance of it all 
helps to hold him close as our mother 
in our childhood's life. I can think 
of no part of these years that was 
not "brim full" of happy content; 
the result of our father's and moth- 



er's wise administration of their 
household. 

A governess kept us six or more 
hours a day at our books; and to 
lend zest to our studies father built 
a small school room adjoining the 
little Meeting House that stood on 
a grassy plateau above the windings 
of the "creek" — a quarter of a 
mile's remove from our home; and 
there we had the companionship of 
some cousins in our work and play. 
It was ever an exciting day with us, 
up there in the little school room, 
when our mother and aunt (some- 
times two aunts) came to hear us 
examined in our studies and to in- 
spect our sewing, which accomplish- 
ment was a much thought-of part 
of our education. Under such cir- 
cumstances our mother was received 
with the ceremonious courtesy of 
the office she was filling toward us, 
and I like to recall the sweetness of 
the dignity she then assumed 
toward her children. 

The shadow of death but once 
darkened the sunlight in the dear, 
dear home among the hills; and 



broken indeed were the promises of 
a beautiful life when our little 
brother James — at three years of 
age — went from us. 

%. %. %. ^ ^ 

In the years of happy childhood 
there is no prophesy of change, 
neither recognition of its meaning 
when it comes; to-day is like yes- 
terday, to-morrow will be the same, 
and this is childhood's fortune; not 
to be equaled by any after expe- 
rience, however fortunate; and so 
the changes that were already wait- 
ing at the threshold of 1855 made 
no other impress on the minds of the 
younger members of the family than 
that of pleasant anticipation. 

In that year, on one of May's 
brightest days, our eldest sister — 
Beulah — was married. 

The little Meeting House on 
that day, for the first and only time, 
opened its doors to a wedding pro- 
cession. This event with which 
the imagination of the younger 
children had been busy, satisfied 
them their sister was, indeed, very 



beautiful, and that a wedding pro- 
cession was something very ideal ! 
And these children were entirely 
correct in regard to that particular 
bridal party. 

The hills and country about still 
retained their primitive beauty — 
the only harmonious setting for the 
quaintly simple procession that, led 
by our father and mother, took its 
way up over the bit of rising ground 
and on, to the little Meeting 
House. It was, however, the bride 
on the arm of the groom, in her 
white satin gown and small white 
bonnet tied beneath her chin, that 
persuaded the younger children 
they were seeing something very 
ideal ! 

And so they were ! And the pic- 
ture remains ! 



Year by year — from 1834 to 
1856 — the business enterprises of 
our father made such inroads upon 
the delightful seclusion of our old 
home, that the charm of it was fast 
passing, and its undesirability for 



longer residence decided our par- 
ents to remove to Cleveland, Ohio, 
which they did in 1856. 

With this removal — however 
changed the outside surroundings — 
the face of the interior life wore the 
same serenity. Home — dear, sanc- 
tified home, wherever they were ! 

The family now included that 
man of dear and sainted memory — 
our grandfather Farmer, and it was 
in the first year of our home in 
Cleveland — late one evening — that 
we gathered for family prayers 
within his room, and our mother — 
ministering angel to him that she 
was — opened The Book and read 
from the 15th Chapter of St. John, 
' Xet not your heart be troubled, ye 
believe in God, — " Before the 
morning the saintly spirit of our 
grandfather had gone to inhabit one 
of the "many mansions." 



Something more than two years 
passed in deciding just where the 
home altar should be permanently 
established. As far up town as 



Euclid avenue, between Perry street 
and Sterling avenue, proved to be 
too far removed from the business 
and social center, and so the tempo- 
rary ' 'up town' ' house was given up, 
and our father bought on Superior 
street, east of the then fashionable 
Public Square center, the handsome 
stone house — with its tall Corinthian 
columns — which ever after was 
known as the Farmer homestead. 
I cannot allow the history of this 
old landmark — our father's and 
mother's dear and hospital home for 
more than thirty years — to pass out 
of sight with the passing of a paper 
of to-day,* which makes interesting 
and — to us — pathetic record of 
"The Farmer Residence." 



*The Cleveland Plain Dealer of March 25th, 
1900. 




Home of 

James and Meribah Farmer 

on 

Superior Street, 

Cleveland. 







Another View of the Home 

on 

Superior Street. 



An Old Landmark to be 
Wiped Out. 



The Farmer Residence, Last of the Old 
Dwellings on Superior Street Being De- 
stroyed. 

One by one the landmarks of the 
old city of Cleveland are passing 
away, and in another year or two 
none of the fine old houses that 
were the pride of the town not so 
very many years ago will be left to 
show us what the city was a gener- 
ation or two ago. 

It is not so very many years since 
Superior street, just above the Pub- 
lic Square, was by far the most de- 
sirable residence portion of the city. 
But little by little the business 
world claimed the street for its own, 
and the people who had owned the 
fine old houses died, or moved up on 
to Euclid, till the whole aspect of 
the street was changed. 

When Bond street was cut 
through to Euclid it took one of the 
old mansions, and the Hollenden 
forced two others to make room for 



its great bulk. The very last of the 
lot to be left was the old Farmer 
house, which for the past few years 
has stood solitary and alone, 
squeezed in tight between the high 
brick buildings on either side, with 
its vacant, broken windows staring 
out over the high board fence built 
across its front — a veritable ghost 
of its former self. 

And yet, in its day that house 
was the grandest of them all. 

It was built way back in 1856 by 
Mr. Clinton French, and when peo- 
ple saw the style in which it was 
building, they shook their heads at 
such rank extravagance on the part 
of the owner. At that time the gen- 
eral architecture of the city was, as 
one of the editorial writers of the 
day expressed it, "a lot of dry goods 
boxes, with soap boxes set on top." 
And some of these ungraceful but 
comfortable mansions still survive to 
prove the truth of his saying. There 
were no architects, and builders 
went in for good, east square effects, 
and the name of art was never 
breathed in the land. 



But Mr. French had different no- 
tions. He had found somewhere 
an engraving of a scene in ancient 
Greece. Near the front of the pic- 
ture could be seen the tall, gleam- 
ing white columns of an old Greek 
portico, graceful and lovely, and he 
determined to have a house built 
just like that. So he began. What 
did he care if his neighbors shook 
their heads at his extravagance, 
and fairly groaned as they saw those 
tall, white columns going up ? The 
house was different from any other 
in the city, it was handsome and 
more than all, it was a faithful copy 
of his engraving. He was quite 
satisfied. In August of 1856 the 
house was nearly completed and he 
then sold it to Philo Chamberlain, 
though the property was not to 
change hands till the following 
March. 

During the intervening months 
work went on steadily on the rear 
portion of the building, while Mr. 
French himself lived in the front 
part, in a bedroom which was built 
opposite the reception room, on the 



ground floor. The great parlor 
was on the second floor, stretching 
right across the front of the house, 
and during that winter it was the 
scene of many merrymakings among 
the young people of the neighbor- 
hood. Mr. French gave the use of 
the room, the girls brought the 
lunch, the young men furnished the 
music, and the young folks danced 
there far into the night. But in 
March all was finished, and the 
house delivered over to Mr. Cham- 
berlain, Mr. French taking in ex- 
change the row of houses on Bond 
street, in one of which he still lives. 

Mr. Chamberlain in turn sold the 
place to Mr. Henry Wick, the 
banker from Youngstown, and he 
again sold it to James Farmer, a 
Quaker gentleman who had recently 
come to Cleveland. In the Farmer 
family it stayed for years — so many 
that it has become known in the city 
as the Farmer homestead, though 
the name is hardly a correct one. 

At that time Superior was indeed 
a handsome street, and some of the 
best known people in town lived in 



the section between the square and 
Erie street. Philo Chamberlain and 
S. A. Raymond, whose houses may 
be seen in the accompanying view 
of the street, lived there for years. 
Then there was old Trinity church, 
and the rectory next door. Oppo- 
site, where the Plain Dealer offices 
now stand, lived Mrs. Shepherd, in 
a cottage which stood on the corner 
of Bond and Rockwell, the rest of 
the lot running to Superior, being 
occupied by a large garden. Mr. 
Sterling of Sterling, Welsh & Co. 
lived near by, and John A. Vincent, 
F. C. Keith, J. H. Morley, Sterling 
Beckwith, William Beckwith, who, 
when he died was president of the 
gas company. Then there was J. 
W. Grey, at that time editor of the 
Plain Dealer, and Edwin Cowles of 
the L,eader, S. Corning, Charles 
Hickox, R. K. Winslow, I^evi Raw- 
son, who afterward sold his house 
to Dr. Robinson and Randal Wade, 
father of J. H. Wade. It was a 
handsome and aristocratic neighbor- 
hood, but its glories could not last. 



Business blocks encroached on 
the great houses and the fine old 
gardens, and once Bond street was 
cut through it was but a little time 
till other houses went. 

And now the very last, the Far- 
mer house, is torn down to make 
an addition to The Hollenden. 




Home of 

James and Meribah Farmer, 

781 Prospect Street, 

Cleveland. 



One more house was to become 
endeared to us, their children — be- 
cause it was to be the last earthly 
home of our loved and revered par- 
ents. 

Three years to our father, ten 
years to our mother was granted 
within the new home, No. 781 
Prospect street. 

They loved this new home well, 
and consecrating it with their love — 
their deaths— it must forever remain 
an equal sharer in our love and 
memory. 

Our father's and mother's life- 
long allegiance to that "peculiar 
sect," the Society of Friends, 
made good, in their lives, the 
injunction : " Be ye in the world, 
not of the world," for while our 
father was a man of many affairs 
in the business world, he, not less 
than our mother, made no compro- 
mises or concessions with or to evil, 
a thing held by both to be as impos- 
sible to minds of true spiritual aspira- 
tions as it was hateful to the soul. 



With neither concessions to, nor com- 
promises with evil, there could come 
no surrender to unrighteousness, 
and I feel that of all the rich and 
varied legacies bequeathed to chil- 
dren (within three days of our fath- 
er's going) from out the beautiful 
lives of parents none has a value 
more significant than this testimony 
of our father : ' 'Sins of omission I 
have; none of commission." Rare, 
I am sure, as beautiful. 

Besides the establishment and 
conduct of their lives on these all- 
masterful principles, our father and 
mother brought to bear in all their 
doing the force of marvelous physi- 
cal health, both having received that 
incomparable gift of Nature, phe- 
nomenal constitutions. What then, 
with purpose consecrated and 
strength the best, could such do but 
prove that — 

"Life is just a stuff 
To try the soul's strength on, educe the 
man." 

and make good the truth that — 

"Who keeps one end in view makes all 
things serve." 



And nothing is truer than that our 
father and mother did keep the ' 'one 
end in view," and using life just 
as * 'a stuff to try the soul's strength 
on," did educe the full man. 

In witness of this, one* wrote : 
1 ' The sight of them now and then 
on the street has been to me the 
assurance of strength and peace on 
the earth, in the ranks of us men. 
They seemed to me noble repre- 
sentatives of a goodly stock, whom 
I, at least, cannot overrate. And 
now those dear old people, whom 
we used to see ride about town so 
serene, dignified and happy, are 
both gone. When shall we see the 
like again ? ' ' 

When, indeed, shall we see the 
like again ? And how other, with 
lives replete with consecrated effort 
and cheerful acquiescence with the 
laws of life, than that they should 
have been " noble representatives" 
of the ' 'goodly stock" from which 
they came. 



The Rev. Hiram C. Haydn, D. D. 



March of 1891 had come ! — and 
it was while looking through one of 
the sun-bright windows of their new 
home on that early March day, that 
our father joyously exclaimed — 
"This is, indeed, a beautiful world, 
no vale of tears!" — bearing best 
testimony to that wondrous spirit 
which could, with no abatement of 
its natural joyousness, exclaim in 
the evening of life as in the morning 
of it — "beautiful world !" 

And it was through the same sun- 
bright windows that our mother 
watched and waited for that morn- 
ing whose light should again reveal 
to her, her dear companion's face ! 

" God never made 

Spirit for spirit, answering shade for shade 

And placed them side by side — 

So wrought in one, though separate, 

mystified, 
And meant to break 
The quivering threads between." 



On the evening of the seven- 
teenth of Third month (March), 
1891 — this "beautiful world" faded 
wholly from 

OUR FATHER'S 

sight; and "the quivering threads 
between" were broken, not to be 
reunited until the seven years of 
long, patient waiting, waiting, were 
ended, and 

OUR MOTHER 

watched the light of this "beautiful 
world" grow until it reached 
The noon of the fourth of Fourth 
month (April), 1898. 

And then the great glory shone 
upon them both ! 



" As thrills of a long hushed tune live in 
the viol, so our souls grow fine with the 
keen vibrations, from the touch divine, of 
noble natures gone." 




" We meet and part 'tis brief ; 
The book I opened keeps a folded leaf, 
The very chair I sat on, breaks the rank- 



James Farmer, 

SON OF 

John and Mary Farmer, 

Born near Augusta, Georgia, nineteenth of 
Seventh month (July), 1802. 



"Such was my rule of life; I worked my 

best, 
Subject to ultimate judgment, God's, not 



"Death reads the title clear 
What each soul for itself conquered from 
out things here." 



CHUS far I have written of our 
father and mother together, 
one — inseparable — following a 
natural run of thought and one that 
will hold with their children so long 
as they are in this world of remem- 
brances. And now I would gather 
up the threads of each individual 
life, ' 'and weave its pattern on the 
individual loom. ' ' 

In the early part of the seven- 
teenth century, some of our father's 
ancestors crossed from England and 
settled in the southern part of the 
New World, to make its fortunes 
theirs. The Farmer family was of 
Saxon origin, and in the reign of 
Edward IV. lived in Northampton- 
shire. 

From the family records we read : 
1 ' Anne, daughter of Richard 
Farmer, was married to William 
L,ucy about 1545. Their son 
Thomas was knighted by Queen 
Elizabeth in 1565. (This was the 
Sir Thomas I/ucy with whom 
Shakespeare had a disagreement in 
his boyhood.) 



' ' Edward Farmer was chancelor 
of Salisbury Cathedral from 1 531 to 
his death in 1 538. His son Barthol- 
omew was father to John Farmer, 
father of John Farmer. ' ' 



William Farmer and Catherine, 
his wife, were the great grand- 
parents of our father. Their son 
William, born the 14th of 4th 
month (April), 1751, and in that 
section of the South now included 
in the State of Georgia, was the 
grandfather of our father. John 
Farmer, our father's father, was 
the son of William Farmer by his 
second wife, Rebecca, and was born 
at the old homestead not far from 
Augusta, Ga., the 12th of 12th 
month (December), 1776. 

Mary, our father's mother, was 
daughter of Richard and Mary 
Taylor, and was born the 1st of 1st 
month (January), 1780. 

Our father was the second son, 
and child, of the eight children born 
to his parents, and one of the three 
born under warm, bright Southern 



skies. Did those bright, genial 
skies endow our father with that 
warmth and geniality that was 
so markedly a characteristic of 
his nature ? To think of him there, 
in that sunny South, nearly a cen- 
tury ago, his grandfathers hardly 
naturalized in the country of their 
adoption, gives us to feel that our 
father was born 

" In the morning of the world, 

When earth was nearer heaven than now" 

and when such men seemed to 
stand with something of God-like 
strength, 

"Serene amid the half-formed creatures 
'round." 

At all events, he had strength of 
mind and body, and soul sweetness 
that made of him a worthy son of 
worthy fathers, an honor to his 
honorable ancestry, and a man 
among men — wherein was all that 
goes to make such men as have no 
peers. 

In truth, there can be no fulsome 
praise, and I should be bearing but 
poor witness to our father's great 



nobleness of character, did I not first 
of all write, that Truth was the chief 
corner-stone of his life and all its 
doings ; he fashioning every other 
stone to the corner-stone's likeness, 
building a temple in which was no 
flaw or blemish of unrighteousness. 
Successful business life meant to 
him, integrity in doing, as in char- 
acter, and in his well-balanced mind 
such traits as calm judgment, quiet 
demeanor, serene disposition, high 
mindedness, deep charity and true 
justice, all had their seats. Of these 
justice was a controlling force, 
and one that he exercised with the 
utmost kindness. It is "a poor 
rule that does not work both ways, ' ' 
he was wont to say, and in prevent- 
ing any from practicing injustice 
toward him or his he gave to that 
virtue its full value, making it a 
positive good, always. Despite his 
large experience in the business, 
social and religious world, in his 
dealings with men neither his man- 
ner nor habit was biased by pre- 
judice or censoriousness. He be- 
lieved in men, believed in the life of 



the world, the ultimate triumph of 
good, and had a constant and force- 
ful perception that, as all things 
come from God, all is God's, and 
taking great delight in the belief 
that as all Nature is the work of 
God, so is there to be found in it 
the revelation of God's mind; and 
thus that man might indeed, 

" Look through Nature up to 

Nature's God." 

Nothing more beautiful or con- 
clusive in testimony could be borne 
that our father felt, 

" God's in his heaven, 
All's right with the world," 

than that he smilingly expressed, as 
the brilliant sunshine of one of 
those March days shone into his 
room (when the gates of Paradise 
were standing ajar) "This is a 
beautiful world, no vale of tears ! ' ' 
Not a touch of pessimism in his 
material or spiritual world ; neither 
was the ritual of a sect his religion. 
Born into the gentle ways and true 
faith of the Society of Friends, he 
was a life- long, consistent member, 



except for a short time in his young 
manhood ; and his loss of member- 
ship only serves to show he was 
not a bondman to the ritual of a 
sect. These were days in which 
there were limitations to a man's 
freedom of action in the church, even 
in so good a cause as serving a friend. 
Our father's friend was not a 
Quaker, but of a sect that paid its 
ministers. Now the Quakers bore 
testimony against a paid ministry, 
and our father's friend would have 
him for groomsman at his wedding. 
He asked for indulgence in the 
matter, but the Quaker Church was 
no granter of indulgences, and so 
our father followed his own con- 
science — was groomsman — was dis- 
owned by the church, and remained 
outside its doors until he asked them 
to be opened to him again that he 
might lead to the altar our mother 
in marriage. Our father was wont 
to speak humorously of this episode 
and always indulgently of a zeal that 
was stronger than wise. 

But my pen has run far away 
from that day in 1805 when our 



grandparents, with their little fam- 
ily of three — two sons and a baby 
daughter — left ' ' for conscience 
sake ' ' the comfortable home in the 
warm, bright South, for the cold, 
bleak wilds of Ohio. A longer 
journey lay before them than that 
which the parents of our mother 
made to the same Western world ; 
but the journey over the mountains 
was the same, and many times did 
our father tell of certain incidents 
of the journey that made an im- 
pression on his young mind like to 
that on our mother's — (he was 
about three years of age) and both 
our father and mother remembered 
"entering into the new land" from 
the same incident — given a bit of 
sugar-cane and told that from it 
sugar was made. 

Our grandparents settled near the 
small town of New Garden and 
remained thereabouts until they 
removed to Columbiana County, 
twelve miles from the Ohio River. 
Here it was that our father began 
his long, successful business career. 
The story we, his children, know 



well ; how, at sixteen years of age, 
lie left school to help his father 
through financial difficulties; in- 
tending to return to his studies as 
soon as his father's affairs permit- 
ted, and always regretted they did 
not permit until he felt it to be too 
late. His father was manufactur- 
ing salt, and soon our father saw 
the business must be enlarged to 
be really lucrative. To see a thing 
was to set about its doing. The 
works were enlarged, a market 
found. Close on the heels of this 
enterprise followed that of establish- 
ing a general store for the conveni- 
ence of the now improving country, 
and again the building of a large 
flour mill, which was regarded in the 
light of something almost wonder- 
ful at that time. About the time 
of this undertaking our father met 
and married Meribah Butler, modest 
and fair Quakeress, from near his 
boyhood's home, and riding down 
through the hills and along the val- 
leys of that wild and picturesque 
country, brought her to grace his 
home and to be the beautiful, faith- 



f ul and loving wife and mother that 
she was. 

It was now that our father's fu- 
ture successes really began to unroll 
before him. 

Our mother's hands fashioned 
the fine silk bolting-cloth for the 
mill's use and once the flour began 
to descend from the then high fifth 
story of the mill, it was hauled 
away in wagons to the Ohio River, 
from there to take its way down 
the Mississippi to New Orleans. 

This long journey as well as that 
over the Alleghanies to Philadel- 
phia, our father many times made. 
This last on horseback, a three 
weeks' ride! 

Courage as well as endurance was 
required for such journeying and I 
well remember how my heart 
swelled with pride in a father who 
never counted the "strain o' the 
muscle," and made one feel how 
good a thing it is to live, 

" — the mere living! 

how fit to employ 
All the heart and the soul and the senses 
forever in joy," 



the joy of well-doing, and doing 
nothing that is not well done. 

Railroads were, by and by, being 
built, and our father conceived the 
idea of connecting L,ake Erie and 
the Ohio River by rail. This road, 
"The Cleveland and Pittsburg," 
was among the first roads built west 
of the Alleghanies. Here were 
difficulties to be met and overcome 
worthy our father's splendid abili- 
ties, and he set about it with that 
energy which never knew defeat. 
Back and forth he rode from Lake 
to River, making friends from ene- 
mies to the project; for in that 
day farmers looked with disfavor 
on an enterprise that was to cut a 
field into two halves. They had to 
be educated to the truth of their 
own betterment, a thing easier to 
accomplish by one who believed in 
the enterprise than some other, 
and so the money, in small amounts, 
was obtained for grading the road- 
bed, before bonds could be floated. 
It was a glad and proud day with 
our father when this really great 
undertaking was successfully fin- 



ished. For years he was its presi- 
dent, resigning the office in 1859, 
two years following his removal of 
our home to Cleveland. During 
these eventful years various busi- 
ness interests claimed his time and 
energies, of which was the opening 
and developing large coal fields. 
In 1 87 1 he secured the charter, or- 
ganized the Valley Railroad and 
became its president. 

The great Civil War had come 
and gone, and though our father 
had not worn a sword, as had his 
forefathers of Revolutionary fame, 
he went as far as his religious prin- 
ciples permitted him in serving his 
country. The soldier was his 
brother and to the wounded soldier 
he could lend a helping hand. 
Our father and mother made a 
visit to Washington during Secre- 
tary of War Stanton's tenure of 
office, and received the courtesy — 
from friend to friend — of a pass to 
visit the great fleet of Union men- 
of-war then stationed at Hampton 
Roads, and afterwards — agreeable 
to the Secretary's complimentary 



request — sent to the War Depart- 
ment a semi-official report. As had 
his father, so our father believed 
slavery to be a deep wrong to all 
mankind, and as his ancestors had 
borne testimony against it by giv- 
ing up their home in the land they 
loved rather than seem to counte- 
nance a thing so hateful, our father 
gave himself with all heartiness to 
the support of the Union in its 
great struggle. 

Time dealt so graciously with 
our father's strength that when he 
reached the "three score and ten" 
it was with mind and spirit as with 
body, unbroken, unbent! 

On our father's seventieth birth- 
day his son Klihu paid, in the fol- 
lowing lines, a true and beautiful 
tribute to our father's nobleness of 
character — and surely seldom to be 
equaled, nobleness of living. 



Our Father's 70th Birthday. 

To the God of all sure mercies 
L,et our voices rise to-day, 
And beseech him for his blessings 
While we journey on our way. 
For the days of busy battle 
Of a life that now is ours, 
Will soon end in solemn silence, 
In a grave strewn o'er with flowers. 

L,et us gather round the hearthstone, 
As we did in days gone by, 
And make to-day a day of union, 
To be registered on high. 
L,et us give our father greeting, 
For he's threescore years and ten; 
I,et us as his children hail him 
"Noblest and the best of men." 

He has fought the battle bravely, 
And has won where scores have lost; 
He has never turned nor faltered, 
But been ever at his post. 



With his strong arm still uplifted, 
And his eye undimmed to-night, 
He is still among the foremost, 
Leading bravely on the fight. 

Nobly hast thou lived, our father, 
Through these threescore years and ten, 
Giving us a bright example, 
Such as comes from but few men. 
May thy last days be thy best days, 
Is our universal prayer, 
Breathed from lips that still are living, 
And from those that now are air. 

Thy children and thy children's children 
I^ong will breathe thine honored name, 
Turning oft in sorrow may be, 
If their course be not the same. 
Give us then thy benediction, 
One and all where e'er we roam, 
Take us in thine arms and bless us 
As thou did' st in childhood's home. 

May the flowers of many a spring-time 
Come to greet thee yet again, 
May the dews of blessing falling 
Ripen thee as golden grain; 
Which, when e'er the angel reapers 



Shall descend to gather in, 

May but prove the whitened harvest, 

Free from every stain of sin. 

With our mother still to bless thee, 
Chief est, best of womankind, 
Pointing with her finger upward 
As she looks on us behind. 
May we tread the starry spaces, 
A united band to be, 
From the wilderness of this world, 
Happy in eternity. 

July 19, 1802. July 19, 1872. 

K. J. F. 



But our father's splendid life was 
not too "soon to end in solemn 
silence. ' ' 

To God be the praise! that his 
life was to continue in all its use- 
fulness, its brightness and good- 
ness for yet another score of years! 
Age had no terrors for him who 
loved life and took joy in it at 
every stage; and much of this joy- 
fulness in living our father ascribed 
to his wonderful health. For this 
he, as did our mother, felt a very 
positive gratitude, never giving for 
so positive a blessing a mere nega- 
tive recognition. 

And thus in strength the best, 
he went up and down the business 
and religious worlds — in and out 
among us in his home, and mak- 
ing long journeys with great ease 
and pleasure to himself and to 
those whose privilege it was to 
travel with him. In 1883 he made 
the voyage to Europe alone, we (my 
own immediate family ) meeting him 
at Hamburg. How tall and straight 
he stood on the deck of the "S. S. 
Weiland" as she came along side 



the landing! His seventy-eighth 
birthday had been spent on board 
(the day before landing) and it was 
with an amused but pleased manner 
that he told us his age had been 
guessed at by some of the passen- 
gers, none coming nearer to it than 
ten years! And so he looked, de- 
spite a slight break in his general 
health during that year. 

"What's a man's age? * * * 
* * * 

When we mind labor, then, then only 
we're too old." 

The day of minding labor never 
arrived with our father, and his 
active participation in business con- 
tinued to the end. His position of 
President of The State National 
Bank was one that he filled with 
pleasure to himself as well as bene- 
fit to the institution. 

But how can my pen gather up 
anything like a satisfying record of 
lives so rich as those of our father 
and mother ? The nearer I draw to 
the end the more do I feel the 
emptiness of words to convey any 
real idea of how truly noble and 



beautiful were the characters and 
lives of our dear parents, who, put- 
ting off all the poorer conditions of 
earth, in a united happiness and 
freedom lived in obedience to the 
laws of a better world, and so in 
fullest enjoyment of "this short 
minute of life, our one chance, an 
eternity on either side," went on 
through this "one chance" making 
it fragrant with the sweetness of 
their living. 

Our mother was wont to say — 
"father would have been a soldier 
had he not been born and educated 
a Friend;" than which no estimate 
of his indomitable courage and 
mathematical mind could be more 
correct; and a successful soldier, 
since his undertakings were not 
the result of impulse immature, 
though of enthusiasm he had far 
above the average. To conceive a 
thing was to follow it to a logical 
conclusion, and if that conclusion 
was satisfactory the thing was vir- 
tually finished. 

This was as true of his spiritual 
life; and of the future life he was 



in the habit of speaking with as 
much confidence as of anything 
which his eyes had seen. Some 
weeks before his last illness a Min- 
ister of the Society of Friends was 
talking with him concerning the 
future life, and asking him some- 
thing of his own hopes and beliefs, 
our father made the prompt and 
characteristic reply, ''That is all 
settled!" "That is all settled!" 

And so with all else pertaining 
to his life; his house was in order, 
the lamp burning. No diminution 
of its light told us the end was but 
fourteen short days off, when 
March of 1891 came in with its 
spring promises. 

Eighty-eight years of strength, 
of usefulness, of goodness! 

" Yet the strong man must go ; 
For the journey is done and the summit 

attained, 
And the barriers fall 
Though a battle's to fight 'ere the guerdon 

be gained, 
The reward of it all." 



Then did we see how a strong 
man could go! It was as though 
his lips said, 

"Yes, 
I was ever a fighter, so one fight more, 
The best and the last ! 
***** 

For sudden the worst turns the 
best to the brave. 



* * first a peace out of pain, 
Then a light, then thy breast, 
thou soul of my soul ! I shall clasp 
thee again, 
And with God be the rest ! ' ' 

On the evening of the seven- 
teenth of Third month (March) 
1 89 1, our father heard the sum- 
mons — the welcome — 

" Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

The promise ! The welcome ! 

The reward ! 

His. 



" Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God." 



Meribah Farmer, 

DAUGHTER OF 

Benjamin and Hannah Butler, 

Born near Philadelphia, Pa., fourteenth of 
Seventh month (July), 1805. 



I knew Thee, who has kept my path, 

and made 
Light for me in the darkness, tempering 

sorrow 
So that it reached me like a solemn joy. 
It were too strange that I should doubt 

Thy love." 



mORE than a hundred years 
ago, in Upper Evesham, 
near the banks of the Dela- 
ware, in New Jersey, at the little 
"Quaker Meeting House," was 
married Benjamin Butler, son of 
John and Eleanor Butler, to Hannah 
Webster, daughter of Thomas and 
Sarah Webster. These were of 
English birth, and were the parents 
of our dear mother; who was the 
sixth child of a family of ten ; four 
sons and six daughters, all of 
whom our mother survived. 

Their daughter Meribah — our 
mother— was born after her par- 
ents had removed to the neighbor- 
hood of Philadelphia. 

When our mother was about six 
years old her parents, as had the 
parents of our father when he was 
three years old, crossed the Alle- 
ghany Mountains to make their 
home in a new country, the then 
far West— Ohio. What a journey 
lay before them ! Weeks of slow- 
going over the rough mountain 
highway, to be continued over no 
better roadways into the almost 



wilderness country thirty or more 
miles beyond the banks of the 
Ohio. 

But nothing daunted, the fam- 
ily of ten set off, and our grand- 
mother, mother of eight children 
that she was, found time to make 
notes of her enthusiastic apprecia- 
tion and enjoyment of Nature, and 
from which she drew an inspira- 
tion as delightful and strong as her 
courage. She gives many interest- 
ing details of that long journey that 
would be not less curious to-day 
than then; but when at the close 
of one of the many long days she 
writes, "All well, and all asleep 
but myself ; about eleven at night. 
* * * * ^ fae children 
were very lively and much delighted 
on the mountains picking of flow- 
ers," we get a charming glimpse 
of our mother's happy childhood, 
and at once we link it with our own. 
"Picking of flowers!" Our moth- 
er was among the mountains, jour- 
neying toward the country of our 
own delightfully happy childhood, 
where through the days of sum- 



mer and summer, we gathered flow- 
ers from the over-hanging cliffs of 
the mountainous hills that skirted 
' ' Our Meadow' ' about, and, together 
with the little ' 'creek" that cut 
"our meadow' s" edges into fantas- 
tic shapes, shut us safely in upon 
that beauteous bit of playground, 
"o'errun with flowers," and only 
" a stone's throw from the garden 
wall," wherein our mother grew 
roses and taught us to plant and 
tend, and love our tendings ! 

The truly poetic nature of our 
mother lent a charming grace to 
her outward as well as to her inner 
life and touched to beauty the 
homeliest of her life' s duties. Early 
and always were our ears made 
familiar with the countless poetic 
quotations which our mother re- 
peated in an epigrammatic way, to 
illustrate a truth or point a moral. 
A poetess in temperament so she 
might have been in name had she 
so chosen, for her gift with the 
pen was not an acquired accomplish- 
ment. 



Under our mother's executive 
ability, how simple and almost easy 
seemed the management of her large 
household. That it was neither 
easy nor simple, the fact that it 
was composed of seven children, 
the almost daily coming and going 
of guests, and with only such ser- 
vants as a new country offers, fully 
demonstrates. But our mother's 
executive abilities, supported by her 
perfect health, not only made the 
administration of her household 
possible, but insured to her "gol- 
den hours" of repose during the 
long summer afternoons, there in 
the dear old house among the hills. 
And this picture that she then 
made, sitting there in her beautiful 
womanhood, is not less distinct nor 
less picturesque and poetic than 
that of this same dear mother sitting 
beside the same little table, with its 
chosen books, through the lengthen- 
ing shadows of the last afternoons 
of her beautiful life, there in the 
home where our father left her. 

Change of home made no change 
in home life, though a greater num- 



ber of outside interests claimed our 
mother's time. 

In turn she devoted herself to 
various charities, the Cleveland 
Protestant Orphan Asylum, The 
Aid Society of the Civil War, The 
Homoepathic Hospital, The Retreat, 
and always the work among the 
Freedmen and the Indians as car- 
ried on through the Board of the 
Society of Friends. 



Note — I much regret not being able to find certain 
letters of kind and complimentary recognition, sent 
by these various societies, of our mother'' s valued 
services with them, and which was discontinued only 
because of advancing years. 



Time dealt graciously with our 
beautiful mother and gave clear 
evidence that with her as with our 
father, 

"The best is yet to be 
The last of life, for which the first 
was made." 

For, as they together, all those 
fifty-seven years of life, so she in 
thought and deed proclaimed, 
through the seven, in which she 
walked alone, 



" Our times are in His hand 
Who saith, ' A whole I planned, 
Youth shows but half ; trust God ; 
See all, nor be afraid' I" 

From the Spring of 1891 our 
mother was to journey on alone ! 
Alone! Our father had gone from 
the sight of her eyes, never — I am 
persuaded — from the close compan- 
ionship of her spirit. 

To repine was not to submit to 
God's great will, neither was it 
" Christian fortitude" in the bear- 
ing the cross laid upon her, and so 
no child-of-us saw our mother do 
other than sit with sweet patience 
through the seven lonely years, 
holding her Bible ever more and 
more closely in tender, worshipful 
clasp. 

The months following our father' s 
death, our mother's sweet faith fol- 
lowed her pathetic wishes to that 
degree, that she believed she would 
be granted that "blessed re-union" 
promised to the children of God, 
before the event of her next, her 
eighty-sixth birthday, and ever-to- 
be-remembered is the sound of her 



almost timid voice, deep with a ten- 
der, touching pathos when she said 
to me, "I thought I would have 
been with father to-day!" and in 
her eyes I read, 

" I, a tired traveller of my sun bereft 1" 

' ' Waiting ! Waiting ! ' ' was her 
pathetic answer to many a tender 
inquiry, for though her patience 
was without limit, and her gratitude 
for health (that continued unbroken) 
boundless, and of repining none; yet 
neither a reverent recognition of all 
her blessing nor the fullest exercise 
of the grace of her submissive spirit 
served to dispel a loneliness that 
came to stay when our father, her 
beloved companion of more than 
half a century, went. The seven 
years of ' ' waiting ' ' were filled with 
an ever-increasing sense of loneli- 
ness, and tested not less fully the 
quality of our mother's faith than 
did the quick, sharp sorrow that 
came earlier in her life, in the loss of 
their two children — dearly loved. 
Our mother believed that to give 
the spirit over to long and excessive 



grief was more like rebellion against, 
than submission to the divine will, 
and surely faith was never put to a 
more crucial test than on that sum- 
mer evening when our sister Laura 
in the fairest promises of her lovely 
young womanhood went from our 
home. But, hear our mother's 
voice ! As the spirit of this most 
precious daughter left her frail 
body, there broke from our mother' s 
lips, in a voice sublimed by its agony 
of sorrow, the triumphant cry of a 
triumphant faith, "Father, receive 
her spirit ! ' ' No least shadow of 
doubt ; the surrender was complete, 
triumphant, sublime — "I give her 
back to Thee. ' ' 



Our mother had early been ac- 
cepted into the ministry of The 
Society of Friends, and in meetings 
for worship and meetings for busi- 
ness both at home and abroad, she 
ministered in the spirit with great 
strength and sweetness. 

But through all sorrows as 
through all joys there had ever been 



about her the strong arm of our 
father. Now, who indeed could 
comfort her lonely spirit, or touch 
with like tenderness the dear, 
bruised heart? 

Alone ! ' ' Waiting ! Waiting ! ' ' 
To a life that had been filled to 
repletion with active service in all 
the callings of that life, the few 
years of inaction that came towards 
the end required for their patient 
acceptance an immense trustfulness 
of the spirit, almost more than our 
mother sometimes felt she had. 
Smilingly she would try to take 
comfort from the assurance that 
1 ' they also serve who only stand and 
wait, ' ' and it was with a mind no 
whit dulled that she recognized the 
time of her patient serving was 
nearing its end. 

Gently, surely, uncomplainingly 
went on our mother's life to its 
beautiful close. Without physical 
pain and with no spiritual doubts 
save such as ever seem to be a part 
of the very faith of the worthy, 
and which with our dear mother 
found expression in her oft-repeat- 



ed, "All through mercy!" "All 
through mercy!" her voice giving 
to the true and deep humbleness of 
her spirit, as expressed in these 
words, a wondrous sense of the 
trustfulness in which her spirit took 
rest. 

" Come unto me all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest." 

" Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God and His righteousness." 

" I will have mercy and not 
sacrifice." 

" Take my yoke upon you, and 
learn of me ; for I am meek and 
lowly in heart ; and ye shall find 
rest unto your souls." 

And thus through the seven 
years of her widowhood, as through 
the fifty-seven years of her wife- 
hood, did we hear our mother voice 
the sweet promises of her beloved 
Lord and Master, and through 
these seven lonely years we saw 
how the dear form bent somewhat 
lower and the hair whiten, but the 
mind and spirit -of -her burn on 
with no uncertain light. 



Her prayers that mind might be 
spared her, might withstand the 
ravages of the increasing years, was 
to the fullest granted, and it was our 
joy to see the light of that increas- 
ingly beautiful mind and spirit fall 
in undimmed brightness through 
the last as through the first of all 
the ninety-two years — years that 
stood like unbroken arches complete 
and with a wondrous beauty in the 
holy cloister of our mother's life! 

Late in March came the day on 
which, for the last time, she laid 
her Bible — constant companion and 
comforter — on the little table, and 
from the same room in which our 
father triumphantly exclaimed : 
' ' This is indeed a beautiful world ; 
no vale of tears ; and I have full 
faith that all will be well in the 
next," our mother's spirit went out 
to join our father' s-T/^r^Z-where, 
united forevermore, they are among 
the sons and daughters of God. 

" God gives each man one life, like a lamp, 
then gives 
That lamp due measure of oil, lamp 

lighted — hold high, wave wide 
Its comfort for others to share." 



We have seen how our sainted 
mother held high, waved wide the 
lighted lamp that God gave her, 
and our faith would be little worthy 
did it not give us the goodly assur- 
ance that, as the sounds of earth 
were growing faint to ceasing alto- 
gether, to her listening ear, she 
heard the blessed promise repeated 
in tones of heavenly welcome, 

"Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

The promise! The welcome! 

The reward! 

Hers. 

On the 4th day of 4th month 

(April) 1898. 



" Blessed are the pure in heart 
for they shall see God." 



And this is our faith — that ' ' in 
Jesus Christ our I^ord, both theirs' 
and ours' , ' ' are they, 

Our Father and Our Mother, 

united forevermore. 

" One after one seeks its lodging, as star 
follows star 
Into the eve and the blue far above us — so 
blue and so far !" 



James Farmer, 



It is the witness still of excellency." 



From The Magazine of Western History, 
November, 1883. 

James Farmer. 

Mr. James Farmer, the first pres- 
ident of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh 
Railroad Company, and one of the 
active forces by which that great 
and useful steam highway was 
brought into being, has been so 
identified with the railroad interests 
of northeastern Ohio that his record 
is a part of their history. Because 
he has not vaunted his own works, 
because he has given his hand to 
the more quiet labors whose results 
are great, and because he has stood 
modestly back and claimed nothing 
in special honor to himself, form no 
reason why the truth should not be 
told and his relation to the new 
and struggling enterprises in their 
days of beginning placed fully on 
record. 

Mr. Farmer was born in Augusta, 
Georgia, on July 19, 1802, of an 
honored English ancestry. His 
grandfather was a brave and pa- 



triotic soldier on the right side 
during the War of the Revolution, 
participating in many battles and 
doing all that lay in his power for 
the success of the Continental arms. 
His son, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, decided to leave the 
South because of slavery, in which 
he could not believe, and came to 
Ohio, in 1805, settling on a tract of 
land in what afterwards became 
Columbiana county. In 18 18 he 
removed to Salineville, in the same 
county. The son was given such 
educational chances as fell to the 
lot of the farmer boys in those days, 
and made the best possible use of 
them. He was at the same time 
given a physical and business train- 
ing, the former on the farm and the 
latter in connection with his father's 
establishment for the manufacture 
of salt. By the time he was twenty- 
two he had shown such develop- 
ment that he leased these works, 
enlarged them, and gave to them 
four years of tireless industry and 
energy. In 1828 he saw a chance 
for the enlargement of his business, 



and crossing the mountains to Phil- 
adelphia purchased a stock of goods 
suited to the demands of his cus- 
tomers in those primitive days. 
Returning he opened a store, and 
thus commenced a mercantile 
career that extended over thirty 
prosperous and busy years. In 
1834 he again extended operations, 
building a flouring mill that was 
considered large for those days, 
purchasing wheat and manufactur- 
ing flour which he shipped to New 
York, Philadelphia and other large 
commercial points in the Bast. All 
these business enterprises, with the 
traveling and acquaintance they in- 
volved, gave to Mr. Farmer an in- 
sight into the transportation prob- 
lem that was denied most men, and 
his mind was of that broad and 
logical character that enabled him 
to make good use of the knowledge 
he possessed. In the early days of 
the decade running from 1840 to 
1850, he gave a practical proof of 
his desire to develop means of 
transportation in a section where 
they were needed, by building a fine 



steamer which was set afloat in 1844 
and which for several years was em- 
ployed on the waters of the Ohio 
and Mississippi rivers, touching at 
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. I^ouis 
and New Orleans. 

The railroad spirit was again 
moving in those days. As has been 
shown above, the several projects 
designed to unite the waters of 
I^ake Erie and the Ohio river, and 
to bring Cleveland and Pittsburgh 
nearer together, had either died the 
death that knows no waking or 
been laid into a sleep from which 
but few of them were to come forth 
with strength enough to continue 
the hard fight. On March 11, 1845, 
an act of revival was passed by the 
Ohio legislature, and the old char- 
ter permitting a road from Cleve- 
land to Pittsburgh was again 
brought into life, under such amend- 
ments and modifications as suited 
the needs and experience of that 
latter day. Mr. Farmer was one 
of the foremost in this renewed en- 
terprise, and gave to it a courage, 
faith and labor that has never been 



half appreciated or understood. He 
was chosen the first president of the 
company, and entered upon his 
duties with an earnestness and pa- 
tient purpose that could not but 
command results, giving of his time, 
money and energies in such quanti- 
ties as the great task demanded. 
The difficulties in the way were 
many, and can never be fully ap- 
preciated or understood in this day 
of knowledge and light. As the 
Cleveland & Pittsburgh was one of 
the first roads built west of the Al- 
leghany mountains, the difficulties 
to be overcome in its construction 
were of a vexing and troublesome 
character. Capital had to be raised 
all along the line by small subscrip- 
tions to grade the roadbed before 
bonds could be issued or credit 
gained to secure the equipment. 
Rights of way could only be secured 
after innumerable prejudices had 
been removed from the minds of 
the people. Meetings had to be 
held and addresses delivered in 
every village and township through 
which the road was to pass, and 



thus for several years Mr. Farmer 
was passing backward and forward 
between Cleveland and the Ohio 
river, attending to the numerous 
and grave responsiblities of his mis- 
sion. It was under his able manage- 
ment that all the difficulties were 
finally overcome and the road com- 
pleted, opening up a territory rich 
in mineral wealth, and giving a 
great impetus to the business of 
Cleveland. Mr. Farmer purchased 
all the machinery and cars for the 
line, and was the first to introduce 
the burning of coal upon its loco- 
motives. He retired for a time 
from the active control of the road, 
but in 1858 was again called to 
its presidency. In order to facili- 
tate its management, the superin- 
tendency was also assigned to him. 
It was mainly through his wise and 
economical administration that the 
road was saved to its stockholders 
and from falling into the hands of 
the bondholders in the great finan- 
cial crash of 1857, when so many 
of the new and struggling railroads 
of the land went by the board. In 



i859> feeling that it was again on a 
secure footing and that he had a 
right to impose upon others the 
burdens he had so long borne, he 
retired from the presidency, re- 
maining, however, a member of its 
board of directors for several years 
thereafter, when he withdrew en- 
tirely, having faithfully served the 
company for nearly twenty years. 

But the above by no means com- 
prises all the service Mr. Farmer 
has rendered this public in the line 
of railroad development. For some 
years previous to 1871 he agitated 
the subject of building a road up 
the Cu)^ahoga valley, from Cleve- 
land to Akron and Canton, and 
down through the coal fields of the 
state to the Ohio river. In 1871 
he secured a charter for that pur- 
pose, and a company was organized 
of which he was chosen president. 
The history of that line, the Valley 
railroad, with some suggestion as 
to the good it has done Cleveland, 
have already been noted in the fore- 
going pages. Mr. Farmer was a 
friend to the enterprise from first to 



last, and did everything that lay in 
his power to make it a success. 

Mr. Farmer's life has, indeed, 
been a busy one. His early years 
in Salineville and his great efforts 
in connection with these roads have 
been supplemented by other enter- 
prises and business connections, 
needless to mention here. As a 
producer of coal from mines of his 
own, as a manufacturer of iron, in 
connection with the banking inter- 
ests of Cleveland, and in other 
ways, his time and capital have 
been well employed. He removed 
to Cleveland in 1856, since which 
this city has been his home. In 
1834 he was married to Miss Meri- 
bah Butler, a young lady of Eng- 
lish parentage, who had previously 
removed with her parents from 
Philadalphia to Ohio, and who still 
walks beside him in the noble 
Christian life that has been so well 
lived by both. Seven children have 
blessed this union, of whom five 
are living. Mr. Farmer is now in 
his eighty-fourth year and retains 
his physical faculties in a wonder- 



ful degree, while his mind still 
holds its old-time vigor and clear- 
ness. He is loved and honored by 
the community for which he has 
done so much, and his record is 
among its highest examples of a 
worthy and manly life. While he 
has done so much for others, he has 
not been one to push himself for- 
ward, but has ever been of a modest 
and retiring disposition, winning 
the respect and confidence of all 
who knew him, and ever holding 
the love and admiration of his own 
family. He is an honored member 
of the Society of Friends. The 
personal characteristics most mark- 
ed in his mental make-up are a 
well-balanced mind, a calm judg- 
ment, quiet demeanor and serene 
disposition; a deep charity for the 
failure of others, genial manner, a 
close observer of men and events, 
and a natural honesty and high- 
mindedness that can never be 
swerved from the right. The strug- 
gles and sacrifices necessary to carry 
forward such works as the building 
of the roads with which he has 



been so closely connected can be 
appreciated only by those who wit- 
nessed his heroic efforts; nor can 
they be depicted in any adequate 
proportion in a brief sketch like 
this. Suffice it to say that Mr. 
Farmer has accomplished whatever 
he has undertaken, and his under- 
takings have been of a high order 
and will stand as worthy monu- 
ments to his fame. 



From the State National 
Bank. 

Cleveland, ) 
March 20th, 1891. } 

Mrs. James Farmer and family : 

Dear Friends. — At a meeting 
of the Directors of this Bank, held 
this day, the following record was 
made relative to the death of our 
lamented President, to wit : 

In the death of James Farmer, 
who for a long time was President 
of The State National Bank, we 
have suffered a great loss, and the 
Directors desire to place on record 
the expression of their sincere 
esteem and regard for him. As an 
officer of the Bank his mature, 
wise and conservative counsel was 
invaluable. He was a man of in- 
tegrity. To each one of us he was 
a friend, and his loss is a personal 
loss. We extend to the family our 
warmest sympathy, and the Cashier 



is directed to send them a copy of 
this, our last tribute to the memory 
of our friend and associate. 

Very truly yours, 

H. C. Eujson, 

Cashier. 



From the Cleveland Leader. 



The Late James Farmer. 



He Was One of the Leaders in Building the 
Cleveland & Pittsburg and Valley Rail- 
roads — His Ability as a Financier — His 
Services to the Government During the 
War — A Man of Conspicuously Upright 
Character. 

James Farmer, the president of 
the State National Bank, whose 
death was announced in yesterday's 
Leader, was one of the pioneers of 
Cleveland and prominently identi- 
fied with the city's earliest business 
movements. Mr. Farmer was born 
in Georgia in 1802 and was of Eng- 
lish ancestry, being a descendant of 
Governor Oglethorpe. The great- 
est part of his life, however, was 
spent in Ohio, and in Cleveland. 
He was prominetly identified with 
many enterprises tending to the ad- 
vancement of Cleveland. He con- 
ceived the idea of building the 
Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad 



#V***m#^» 4^> 4+**+*k> ***** 



and was its builder. The road was 
one of the first built west of the 
Alleghenies and Mr. Farmer found 
many difficulties to overcome. It 
was necessary to grade the roadbed 
before any bonds could be issued 
to secure further construction of 
the equipment. He raised the 
money necessary for the grading by 
inducing people living along the 
proposed line to subscribe small 
amounts. After much hard work 
he succeeded in raising this money, 
then floated the bonds and com- 
pleted the task. He was the first 
president of the company, serving 
for many years. It was mainly 
through his efforts that the road 
was saved to the stockholders in 
the financial panic of 1857. In 
1859, when the road was firmly 
established, he resigned his position 
as president, but remained a mem- 
ber of the board of directors. He 
served as a director for a few years, 
retiring after a connection of 
twenty years with the company. 
For some years previous to 1871 he 
advocated the construction of a rail- 



road from Cleveland to the Ohio 
river, running through Akron and 
Canton. In 187 1 he secured a 
charter and organized the Valley 
Railroad. He was chosen presi- 
dent of the company. 

During the Rebellion Mr. Farmer 
was a firm supporter of the Union. 
He visited Washington city during 
the war and called upon Secretary 
Stanton, who was an old and inti- 
mate friend. Mr. Stanton sent him 
to Hampton Roads where the great 
fleet of Union men-of-war was sta- 
tioned. At Secretary Stanton's 
request he prepared a report con- 
cerning the vessels, their equip- 
ment, and usefulness. 

Mr. Farmer was president of the 
Ohio National Bank and when its 
charter expired was prominent in 
the organization of the State Na- 
tional Bank, of which he was pres- 
ident at the time of his death. 

He was a life-long member of the 
Society of Friends and was well 
known and highly respected by that 
body of Christian believers through- 
out the United States. He gave 



liberally to Christian projects and 
to charities, and lived a notably 
honorable and upright life. 



From a Society of Friends'' paper. 

James Farmer. 

James Farmer was born near 
Augusta, Ga., Seventh Month 19, 
1802, and fell asleep Third Month 
17, 1 89 1, in the 89th year of his 
age. His ancestors came from 
England during the early part of 
the seventeenth century, where the 
family had been mentioned with 
special honor since the days of 
Henry VIII. His grandfather took 
an active part in the American Re- 
volution. In 1805 his father de- 
cided on account of slavery, to leave 
the South. He moved to Ohio and 
settled in Columbiana county, be- 
coming one of the pioneers of the 
Society of Friends in what is now 
Ohio Yearly Meeting. In 18 18 the 
family moved to Salineville, O., 
where James grew to manhood. In 
1834 he was married to Meribah 
Butler, a sister of the late John But- 
ler. This happy union continued 
for upward of 57 years and was 



blessed with seven children, five of 
whom are living. His aged com- 
panion, a son, four daughters, and 
numerous grandchildren survive 
him and mourn his departure, but 
not as those who have no hope. 

James Farmer was an active bus- 
iness man, engaged in manufactur- 
ing, mining, railroads, and bank- 
ing interests for seventy years, 
and during this long period — cover- 
ing the entire time usually allotted 
to man on earth — he carried his 
religious principles into his busi- 
ness; he was noted for his honesty 
and integrity; always above suspi- 
cion, he had the full confidence of 
his business associates and the peo- 
ple among whom he lived. In his 
life we had an emphasis given to 
the ennobling influences of the 
Christian faith, and how that faith 
is the underlying and sustaining 
force of a truly successful life. 

During the Rebellion he was a 
firm supporter of the Union, and at 
one time early in the war visited 
Washington and called upon Secre- 
tary Stanton, who was an old and 



intimate friend. So great was the 
Secretary's confidence in him that 
he sent him to Hampton Roads, 
where the great fleet of Union men- 
of-war was stationed, on a mission 
of inspection. Here he prepared a 
report concerning the vessels, their 
equipment and usefulness, that was 
very satisfactory to the govern- 
ment. 

He was a loving and devoted 
husband, a kind and indulgent 
father, and a true follower of Christ. 
He gave liberally to Christian pro- 
jects and charities; always kind and 
considerate to the poor and needy. 

He was a strong adherent to the 
principles of the Society of Friends, 
and his life was a constant testi- 
mony to the truth of the teachings 
of George Fox. He was a leader 
among his brethren in the church, 
looked up to as a safe adviser in 
the administration of the govern- 
ment of the church. He would 
sacrifice his personal business in- 
terests to attend the yearly meet- 
ings, and other gatherings of 
Friends, that he might lend his in- 



aasaamm 



fluence for the furtherance of 
Christ's kingdom. He was very 
regular and punctual in attendance 
upon the place of worship. His 
testimonies to the power of Christ 
to save were clear and definite. 
There could be but one end to such 
a life — Triumph ! But a few weeks 
ago it was the writer's privilege to 
have a personal conversation with 
him concerning his spiritual inter- 
ests and hopes for the future. He 
replied, with considerable emphasis, 
"That is all settled! That is all 
settled!" 

During his last illess he was con- 
scious and in full possession of his 
mental faculties to the last. He 
was full of tenderness and affection 
to all members of his family, and 
directed the affairs around his bed 
until within a few hours of his de- 
parture. He had the greatest re- 
gard for her who had walked by his 
side for over half a century. Call- 
ing his only son to his bed-side he 
said : "How tender and loving are 
the words of Christ on the cross 
when he said to the beloved disciple, 



'Behold thy mother?' " thus he ex- 
pressed in the tenderest manner the 
resignation of mother to the tender 
care of their son. 

He gave expression to his readi- 
ness to meet death in the significant 
expression "My sins have gone on 
before me to judgment." Yet he 
trusted not in himself, saying at 
times, "It is all of mercy! It is all 
of mercy!" 

His vacent seat in the Cleveland 
Meeting causes many hearts to be 
sad, but all rejoice in the hope of 
meeting again. Funeral services 
were held at the residence Seventh- 
day afternoon, the 21st, when all 
that was mortal was laid awa}^ in 
Lake View cemetery to await the 
resurrection morning. The influ- 
ence of his life will never die, but 
like a benediction ever rest upon 
all who were privileged to be asso- 
ciated with him. 

P. W. Raidabaugh. 



Meribah Farmer* 



Goodness loves to diffuse itself, and 
Those who have it love to give it." 



mFmrm 



From the Cleveland Leader, yth April, 
1898. 



From Life. 



A Venerable Resident of Cleveland Passes 
Away. — Meribah Farmer's Death. — It 
Occurred on Monday at her Home on 
Prospect Street. — Ninety-three Years of 
Age. — Her Illness was brief, lasting only 
a few days. — Her Husband, the late 
James Farmer, was for twenty years Pres- 
ident of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Rail- 
road. 

One of the oldest inhabitants of 
Cleveland passed from life on Mon- 
day. This was Mrs. Meribah Far- 
mer whose age was ninety-three 
years. Mrs. Farmer was Miss Mer- 
ibah Butler, and came of Quaker 
stock, having been born in Phil- 
adelphia in 1805. Her parents re- 
moved to Salem, O., in the same 
year.* 

Three years prior to this, in 1803,! 
there removed to Salineville, O., 
the parents of James Farmer, also 



* {Incorrect), 1811. 
^(Incorrect), 1818. 



J" 



Quakers. Scarcely a resident of 
Cleveland at that time but knew 
James Farmer, a striking figure, 
with his old-fashioned broad- 
brimmed Quaker hat and his quiet 
manners. James Farmer married 
Meribah Butler and at first they 
lived at Salineville, but later moved 
to Cleveland, so many years ago 
that there is scarcely a person liv- 
ing in the city who can remember 
when 

THEY WERE NOT HERE. 

Mr. Farmer died in 1891, aged 
eighty-nine years. He was wealthy. 
He made his first money in sending 
boats down the Mississippi to New 
Orleans. He was the prime mover 
and the first president of the Cleve- 
land & Pittsburg Railroad Com- 
pany, surveying most of the road 
himself, and traveling on horseback 
in so doing. For twenty years he 
was the head of the road. 

When Mr. and Mrs. Farmer lo- 
cated in Cleveland they lived on 
very nearly the same spot on Euclid 



road from Cleveland to the Ohio 
river, running through Akron and 
Canton. In 187 1 he secured a 
charter and organized the Valley 
Railroad. He was chosen presi- 
dent of the company. 

During the Rebellion Mr. Farmer 
was a firm supporter of the Union. 
He visited Washington city during 
the war and called upon Secretary 
Stanton, who was an old and inti- 
mate friend. Mr. Stanton sent him 
to Hampton Roads where the great 
fleet of Union men-of-war was sta- 
tioned. At Secretary Stanton's 
request he prepared a report con- 
cerning the vessels, their equip- 
ment, and usefulness. 

Mr. Farmer was president of the 
Ohio National Bank and when its 
charter expired was prominent in 
the organization of the State Na- 
tional Bank, of which he was pres- 
ident at the time of his death. 

He was a life-long member of the 
Society of Friends and was well 
known and highly respected by that 
body of Christian believers through- 
out the United States. He gave 



liberally to Christian projects and 
to charities, and lived a notably 
honorable and upright life. 



From a Society of Friends^ paper. 

James Farmer. 

James Farmer was born near 
Augusta, Ga., Seventh Month 19, 
1802, and fell asleep Third Month 
17, 1 89 1, in the 89th year of his 
age. His ancestors came from 
England during the early part of 
the seventeenth century, where the 
family had been mentioned with 
special honor since the days of 
Henry VIII. His grandfather took 
an active part in the American Re- 
volution. In 1805 his father de- 
cided on account of slavery, to leave 
the South. He moved to Ohio and 
settled in Columbiana county, be- 
coming one of the pioneers of the 
Society of Friends in what is now 
Ohio Yearly Meeting. In 18 18 the 
family moved to Saline ville, O., 
where James grew to manhood. In 
1834 he was married to Meribah 
Butler, a sister of the late John But- 
ler. This happy union continued 
for upward of 57 years and was 



blessed with seven children, five of 
whom are living. His aged com- 
panion, a son, four daughters, and 
numerous grandchildren survive 
him and mourn his departure, but 
not as those who have no hope. 

James Farmer was an active bus- 
iness man, engaged in manufactur- 
ing, mining, railroads, and bank- 
ing interests for seventy years, 
and during this long period — cover- 
ing the entire time usually allotted 
to man on earth — he carried his 
religious principles into his busi- 
ness; he was noted for his honesty 
and integrity; always above suspi- 
cion, he had the full confidence of 
his business associates and the peo- 
ple among whom he lived. In his 
life we had an emphasis given to 
the ennobling influences of the 
Christian faith, and how that faith 
is the underlying and sustaining 
force of a truly successful life. 

During the Rebellion he was a 
firm supporter of the Union, and at 
one time early in the war visited 
Washington and called upon Secre- 
tary Stanton, who was an old and 



intimate friend. So great was the 
Secretary's confidence in him that 
he sent him to Hampton Roads, 
where the great fleet of Union men- 
of-war was stationed, on a mission 
of inspection. Here he prepared a 
report concerning the vessels, their 
equipment and usefulness, that was 
very satisfactory to the govern- 
ment. 

He was a loving and devoted 
husband, a kind and indulgent 
father, and a true follower of Christ. 
He gave liberally to Christian pro- 
jects and charities; always kind and 
considerate to the poor and needy. 

He was a strong adherent to the 
principles of the Society of Friends, 
and his life was a constant testi- 
mony to the truth of the teachings 
of George Fox. He was a leader 
among his brethren in the church, 
looked up to as a safe adviser in 
the administration of the govern- 
ment of the church. He would 
sacrifice his personal business in- 
terests to attend the yearly meet- 
ings, and other gatherings of 
Friends, that he might lend his in- 



fluence for the furtherance of 
Christ's kingdom. He was very 
regular and punctual in attendance 
upon the place of worship. His 
testimonies to the power of Christ 
to save were clear and definite. 
There could be but one end to such 
a life — Triumph! But a few weeks 
ago it was the writer's privilege to 
have a personal conversation with 
him concerning his spiritual inter- 
ests and hopes for the future. He 
replied, with considerable emphasis, 
"That is all settled! That is all 
settled!" 

During his last illess he was con- 
scious and in full possession of his 
mental faculties to the last. He 
was full of tenderness and affection 
to all members of his family, and 
directed the affairs around his bed 
until within a few hours of his de- 
parture. He had the greatest re- 
gard for her who had walked by his 
side for over half a century. Call- 
ing his only son to his bed-side he 
said: "How tender and loving are 
the words of Christ on the cross 
when he said to the beloved disciple, 



'Behold thy mother?' " thus he ex- 
pressed in the tenderest manner the 
resignation of mother to the tender 
care of their son. 

He gave expression to his readi- 
ness to meet death in the significant 
expression "My sins have gone on 
before me to judgment." Yet he 
trusted not in himself, saying at 
times, "It is all of mercy! It is all 
of mercy!" 

His vacent seat in the Cleveland 
Meeting causes many hearts to be 
sad, but all rejoice in the hope of 
meeting again. Funeral services 
were held at the residence Seventh- 
day afternoon, the 21st, when all 
that was mortal was laid away in 
L,ake View cemetery to await the 
resurrection morning. The influ- 
ence of his life will never die, but 
like a benediction ever rest upon 
all who were privileged to be asso- 
ciated with him. 

P. W. Raidabaugh. 



Meribah Farmer. 



Goodness loves to diffuse itself, and 
Those who have it love to give it." 



From the Cleveland Leader^ 7th April, 
i8p8. 



From Life. 



A Venerable Resident of Cleveland Passes 
Away. — Meribah Farmer's Death. — It 
Occurred on Monday at her Home on 
Prospect Street. — Ninety-three Years of 
Age. — Her Illness was brief , lasting only 
a few days. — Her Husband, the late 
James Farmer, was for twenty years Pres- 
ident of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Rail- 
road. 

One of the oldest inhabitants of 
Cleveland passed from life on Mon- 
day. This was Mrs. Meribah Far- 
mer whose age was ninety-three 
years. Mrs. Farmer was Miss Mer- 
ibah Butler, and came of Quaker 
stock, having been born in Phil- 
adelphia in 1805. Her parents re- 
moved to Salem, O., in the same 
year.* 

Three years prior to this, in i8o3,f 
there removed to Salineville, O., 
the parents of James Farmer, also 

* (Incorrect), 1811. 
■f (Incorrect), 1818. 



^ 



Quakers. Scarcely a resident of 
Cleveland at that time but knew 
James Farmer, a striking figure, 
with his old-fashioned broad- 
brimmed Quaker hat and his quiet 
manners. James Farmer married 
Meribah Butler and at first they 
lived at Salineville, but later moved 
to Cleveland, so many years ago 
that there is scarcely a person liv- 
ing in the city who can remember 
when 

THEY WERE NOT HERE. 

Mr. Farmer died in 1891, aged 
eighty-nine years. He was wealthy. 
He made his first money in sending 
boats down the Mississippi to New 
Orleans. He was the prime mover 
and the first president of the Cleve- 
land & Pittsburg Railroad Com- 
pany, surveying most of the road 
himself, and traveling on horseback 
in so doing. For twenty years he 
was the head of the road. 

When Mr. and Mrs. Farmer lo- 
cated in Cleveland they lived on 
very nearly the same spot on Euclid 



avenue where General James Bar- 
nett now lives. They found this 
too far out, as in the wet season the 
streets were nearly impassable, and 
as it took an hour to reach the 
Public Square they removed to a 
house on Superior street, which still 
stands, it being the one next the 
Hollenden on the east. There they 
lived until a few years before Mr. 
Farmer's death, when they bought 
the house at No. 781 Prospect 
street where Mrs. Farmer died. 

Both Mrs. Farmer and her hus- 
band adhered to the dress and man- 
ners of the Quakers all their lives. 
As Mr. Farmer always wore his 
white necktie and his broad-brim- 
med hat, so his wife to the last wore 
her Quaker bonnet and quiet un- 
ostentatious attire. The Friends 
Society of the city will 

CONDUCT THE FUNERAL. 

In her lifetime she did much for 
charity, her especial charities, in 
both of which she maintained a 
great interest to the last, being the 
Homeopathic Hospital and the 



Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asy- 
lum. Up to nearly the last she re- 
tained her faculties. Mr. Kenyon 
V. Painter, a grandson, said yester- 
day that on the Friday preceding 
the day of her death he had occa- 
sion to go to the East, and in bid- 
ding his grandmother good-bye he 
thought he had never seen her in 
apparently better health. She was 
in possession of all her faculties. 
The immediate cause of her death 
was congestion of the lungs. 

Mrs. Farmer left five children — 
Mr. B. J. Farmer, Mrs. J. V. Pain- 
ter, and Mrs. Elizabeth E. Colwell, 
of this city, Mrs. Beulah Price, of 
Paterson, N. J., and Mrs. William 
Price, of Newark, N. J. One of 
the daughters of Mrs. Beulah Price 
is the wife of Attorney General 
Griggs, of President McKinley's 
Cabinet. 

The funeral will be from the 
house, No. 781 Prospect street, at 
2 o'clock this afternoon. The in- 
terment will be in I,ake View cem- 
etery. 



From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 7th 
April 1898. 

Pioneer Resident 



Death of Mrs. Meribah Farmer at an Ad- 
vanced Age. — She "Was Born in \ 805- — 
Came to Cleveland When it Was but a 
Village* — Widow of James Farmer* — 
Her Husband Owned the First Flour Mill 
in Ohio and was the Projector of the 
Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad, of 
Which He Was President for Many 
Years— Mrs. Farmer Was Noted for Her 
Charitable Work. 

In the death of Mrs. Meribah 
Farmer, widow of the late James 
Farmer, at her home, No. 781 Pros- 
pect street, at noon Monday, Cleve- 
land lost one of its oldest pioneers 
and most estimable citizens. She 
came here when Cleveland was al- 
most a wilderness, and had seen the 
city grow up about her and had, in- 
deed, contributed no mean share to 
its development. Though ninety- 
three years old, she retained her 
mental faculties to the end, and kept, 
through the close and daily perusal 
of the newspapers, her hold upon 



current events. She frequently en- 
gaged in entertaining discussions 
upon the affairs of to-day with her 
family, and manifested an uncom- 
mon interest in things for one so 
old. 

On Friday last Mrs. Farmer was 
seized with a cold, slight at first, 
but which rapidly developed into 
congestion of the lungs, and on 
Monday noon, surrounded by mem- 
bers of her household, she died. 

Mrs. Farmer was born in Salem,* 
O., in 1805, her parents having 
come to this state from Philadelphia 
during that year. She met and 
married James Farmer, who was 
born in Salinevillef in 1802, and 
came to Cleveland in the early ' 50s. 

Cleveland was then, of course a 
straggling village, but of great 
possibilities, which Mr. Farmer, 
with wonderful precision, foresaw. 
He built and owned the first flour 
mill in Ohio, and soon was supply- 
ing the coast trade with flour. 
He was the first to send flour 



* {Incorrect), near Philadelphia. 
\ {Incorrect), near Augusta, Ga. 



by an all water route to New 
Orleans from Ohio. He also owned 
a salt well and sent away immense 
shipments of salt. Later his ener- 
gies found vent in establishing the 
Cleveland & Pittsburg railway, of 
which he was for many years presi- 
dent. He surveyed every inch of 
the route himself on horseback, and 
it can truly be said that he actually 
built the road. It is a curious cir- 
cumstance that by the original sur- 
vey the road was to have entered 
Cleveland along Erie street, striking 
Superior street in the location now 
occupied by the Hollenden. A mere 
technicality caused the route to be 
changed to the present one along 
Willson avenue. Mr. Farmer was 
president for a number of years of 
the State National bank. 

When Mr. and Mrs. Farmer first 
came to Cleveland they lived on 
Euclid avenue, between Perry and 
Sterling, but the road at that time 
was constantly in such deplorable 
condition that after struggling 
through the mud for a year they 
decided to remove nearer the center 



of the village. They established a 
home on Superior street on property 
adjoining the Hollenden, and lived 
there until a decade ago. The old 
house is still standing and may be 
noted by the massive pillars which 
form the porch. 

Mrs. Farmer lived a very active 
life. She became deeply interested 
in the Homcepathic Hospital and in 
the Cleveland Orphan Asylum. 
During the war she gave nearly her 
entire time to the sanitary service, 
assisting in every way possible to 
provide for the comfort of the boys 
in the hospital and in the field. 
Since the war she has been identi- 
fied with various charitable socie- 
ties. Mrs. Farmer was a devout 
Quaker. 

The following children survive 
her; Mrs. J. V. Painter, and Mr. 
B. J. Farmer, of this city, Mrs. 
Warwick Price, of Paterson, N. J. ; 
Mrs. William Price, of Newark, N. 
J. ; Mrs. Elizabeth Col well, of New- 
ark, N. J. 

The funeral will be held at 2 p. 
m. to-day. 



To the Relatives of Meribah Farmer. 

OUR beloved Friend and Minis- 
ter, Meribah Farmer, having 
been called to the life beyond, 
on the fourth of the Fourth month, 
1898, in the ninety- third year of 
her age, we wish to place upon our 
records a loving tribute to her, and 
praise to our Lord for His good- 
ness. When she, with her late 
husband, James Farmer, came to 
this city, more than forty years 
since, they opened their own home 
and invited others to join them 
there in worshipping the Lord 
whom they loved. 

This was the commencement of 
The Friends' Meeting, now estab- 
lished here, and to which their 
hearts were closely allied as long as 
they lived. 

Our Friend exercised her gift in 
the Ministry at houses and in other 
places acceptably to her friends. 
We mourn our loss as for a loving 
mother in Israel, watchful over the 
eternal interests of the Church, 
pointing others to Christ the 



Saviour, rejoicing over every one 
brought into the fold, and encourag- 
ing them to walk in Christ's foot- 
steps. 

Their home ever continued to be 
one of hospitality, and a resting 
place for those in the service of the 
Lord. 

Not trusting in her own merits, 
but only in the mercy of God in 
Christ Jesus our Lord, her end was 
peace. 

"Thou shalt come to thy grave 
in a full age, like as a shock 
of corn cometh in his season." 

Signed, 
By Committee from Meeting 
of Ministry and Oversight. 

L. Maria Stanley, 
Matilda M. Russell. 

Cleveland, 

Fourth Month, 1898. 



" I spoke as I saw. 
I report, as a man may of God's work — 
all's love, yet all's law." 

" I own the Past profuse 
Of power each side, perfection every turn 
Eyes, ears took in their dole, 
Brain treasured up the whole; 
Should not the heart beat once ' How 
to live and learn?' " 



L. K. F. P. 
March, ipoo. 




CLEVELAND, OHIO. 




lLini»iKL 0F CONGRESS 



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1^785 231 



